A cochlear implant is a surgical treatment for hearing loss and other auditory disorders, dramatically improving a person’s quality of life.

The technology is primarily used to give access to spoken language for patients with severe to profound hearing loss where even well-fitted hearing aids are ineffective.

Before we recommend cochlear implantation we will need to establish whether the procedure is suitable for your child.

In children, a cochlear implant might be the correct procedure if they display:

• Severe or profound hearing loss
• Inadequate speech and/or language progress caused by hearing loss
• Severe reverse sloping hearing loss
• Limited aided speech information above 2 kHz (as seen on speech-mapping)
• Sensorineural hearing loss caused by meningitis

Early intervention is vital – a child with severe hearing loss will have a better chance to reach his/her full spoken language potential if correctly treated within critical times. Patients with additional needs are not excluded.